A/N: Sorry about the wait! I'm finally back with this fic, my first posted chapter since November last year!

Going back to school is absolutely crazy with a full time job and two kids under seven, so my writing is unfortunately taking a bit of a back seat, but I won't be abandoning it because I love to write these fun stories.

I was so stuck on this chapter for a really long time, considering my options and also thinking that I had strayed a bit too far from my original idea. So now I feel like the story is back on track for the way I want it to pan out.

I hope you'll enjoy and I'll shut up now.

xx HBSJ

Chapter 25

Blaise Zabini, a fucking fine Marchese and eminently suave ladies man, was not usually very observant. He didn't need to be because everything he wanted usually came to him with little to no fuss. Because really, he scoffed mentally to himself, he was downright amazing.

But not even the thickest of thickheads would have missed the way Draco and Hermione mooned over each other. Every fucking second of every fucking day. And on a fucking night like this too, with everything that had been going on.

He was watching Draco eying the door to the gardens, how stupidly obvious.

For fucks sake.

There's a time and place for fucking and this was not that time.

Blaise sighed annoyed, unhappy to be a cock-block but really, they still had loads of issues to discuss and Harry was still white as a sheet, clutching Pansy's hand.

Harry and Pans. That was another hornets nest he really didn't want to touch with a ten foot pole. How the fuck did that even start in the first place?

And it looked like Astoria was taken too. She had been shooting longing glances at Granger's brother all night and he had reciprocated in kind.

Anyways, back to those two mooning fuckers.

Just as his attention was back on Drake and Hermione, they fucking slipped out that damned garden door. And no one else seemed to have realised it.

Huh.

Well fuck.

Sighing heavily, Blaise got up.

The fucking sacrifices he made for his friends when he could be cosily ensconced in the sitting room, imagining how to approach the magnificent duchess again. He'd tried for years and she seemed happy with her husband. If only she fucking wasn't.

Strolling heavily to the door, he made his way to the elaborate and stunning Malfoy gardens. Narcissa was really a genius at so many things. He pondered the regal elegance of the duchess for a moment… If only she didn't have the duke…

Right, cheered by the idea of a possible early demise of Draco's father, he called for them. "Draco!"

Silence.

"Drake! Hermione!"

Another stretch of silence, then a scuttling somewhere deeper in the gardens.

"Drake! Where the fuck are you?"!

A muffled but obviously heartfelt "For fucks sake!" came through the trees.

He chuckled.

That'll teach them.

Draco was laughing from somewhere deep within his soul. He just couldn't help it.

Hermione gave him that feeling of being able to be himself around her, something he didn't have with very many people.

So many wanted something from him. The women coveted his title and the men wanted to be around him by association.

There were still too many misunderstandings between them, but he was certain they could work through them.

Priorities. And that was all fine and dandy but right now, he really wanted to get his lady as naked as she would allow.

He was walking towards the recently vacated Gardeners Cottage hidden behind the Dartmoor Manor formal gardens.

Their groundskeeper, Hagrid, had gone back to school to finish his master gardener program. Hagrid was a kind man who'd had to stop his schooling at an early age to aid his family income when he was young and he'd never had the chance to go back to school.

His mother had known this when he was hired and after a successful two years as the head gardener of the Dartmoor estate, she had offered to pay for his way through school, leaving the cottage empty while he was away.

It was a cosy round cottage that was cleaned regularly with a working fireplace, a tiny kitchen, a small seating area and most importantly, a bed. And it was aired out and cleaned regularly.

"Where are we going?" Hermione sounded breathless and perhaps he had been dragging her too fast, taking too long strides but he was aching to have her to himself.

He stopped suddenly and pulled her against him. "We're going to a place where we can be alone."

Her sudden intake of breath along with the joy in her eyes made him positively ravenous for her. He kissed her with everything he had, everything he was and placed it right there on a plate for her.

She made him feel all the feelings that he had always considered beneath him, and it was humbling.

Her lips were soft and utter perfection. He whispered her name over and over and she clung to him as they made out in a forest clearing like besotted teenagers.

He had never felt so alive as he did when he was around her and he wanted her with a fire he hadn't expected.

"Draco!"

They could hear someone calling in the distance.

She paused, still holding his hand. He made to interrupt but she schussed him.

"Drake! Hermione!"

She couldn't hear who it was, but it sounded urgent. She listened harder and made to move towards the disembodied voice.

"Drake! Where the fuck are you?!" It was Blaise calling for them.

Draco groaned aloud beside her, pulling her tightly against him. "For fucks sake!" He muttered emphatically.

She couldn't help it. She laughed. It was just too stupid, too comical that they were interrupted just as they were making some sort of decision about the two of them.

But, as they followed Blaise Zabini back to the manor, she was wondering if they'd even resolved anything at all or if they'd both just let their hormones run away with them.

She looked surreptitiously up at Draco, now seeing him in a different light.

He was, after all, still the person who had simply agreed with his father that she was entirely expendable in this ongoing feud between Draco and Tom Riddle.

She frowned.

How on earth could she possibly have forgotten that little but very important tidbit?

It all slammed into her like a brick, and she swallowed hard. She mentally kicked herself for her utter stupidity. Why should she trust him at all?

She may be in lust with him, but she'd be damned if she would accept being treated like a plaything to be discarded after use.

No.

Thank whatever deities out there that Blaise had followed them and stopped her from making probably the biggest mistake of her life.

This man, who was probably still carrying a torch for his beautiful yet cold ex-girlfriend, inspired feelings in her that she'd never had before.

She shook her head.

She just wanted to go get some damn sleep. Just go to sleep and ignore all of this craziness.

Not to mention that Harry was probably a distant Black, a royal.

What a mess!

She couldn't be there any longer, she needed to leave. When she spotted Ginny yawning, she made quick plans to go back to the Dowager House.

She couldn't be near him for fear that she would explode at him.

Such a wanker for using her like this.

The duchess turned to them. "Draco, Hermione and the eminent Marchese."

Blaise almost shivered as the Duchess spoke to them softly. Despite her age she really was magnificent. How he would love to hear her whisper his name in the throes of passion.

A dream really.

He half bowed to her. "I bring back our esteemed companions from their midnight stroll in your glorious gardens my lady."

She smiled mischievously, full well knowing what her son and Hermione had been sneaking off for. "Well, it is a beautiful night for star gazing, is it not darling?"

Draco's slight flush was almost imperceptible, but the hard set of his jaw was not. And Blaise was really looking for it.

"Yes mother, it most certainly is." He answered through clenched teeth.

Hermione however, was looking odd and hurried to Weasley in the corner. They exchanged a few words with Will and the three of them stood to take their leave.

Blaise was certain her saw her glare at Draco viciously and Draco started.

Draco watched her go like a fish out of water and Blaise elbowed him. "Not now, you fucking cunt."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Well, you stop eye-fucking my mother."

He chuckled and retorted, "You stop thinking with your dick then. We've got shit to deal with. And besides, we're all going to Chesterton tomorrow."

Draco's jaw clenched. "Right. Riddle will be there."

Blaise just nodded, wondering again what the hell had happened between Draco, Hermione and Riddle to make that such a combustible situation.

"Well,-" He said aloud to the room. "-perhaps it's time to turn in. We're all going to Chestertons Polo in the Park tomorrow and we all need our beauty sleep. Especially me." He flipped his imaginary long hair behind his shoulder and even Harry chuckled, which had been the entire point, though he still looked a bit green.

Later that night, when Blaise was comfortable in his massive bed in his usual rooms at Dartmoor, Blaise pondered how the fuck he was supposed to solve all of this shite.

Draco maybe both blind and infatuated but Blaise didn't miss the way Hermione had closed off from him when reality of their situation had hit home. And it was very possible that Draco had fucked something up. She looked pissed as fuck.

For a usually unobservant man, he knew an exceptional number of things.

Would it really be up to him to fix it all? Could he get Theo to help perhaps? It was possible.

Blaise sighed heavily and turned over in bed.

He should have just stayed unobservant. Fucking hell.

The next morning dawned and with as little grumbling as possible, Hermione and Will herded a dead-on-her-feet Ginny out to the luxury bus waiting for them. They were driving to Chestertons and they had a very long drive ahead of them.

Hermione and Ginny had hung up their dresses up on the rails in the back row and Will seemed to not even care about his suit as he tossed the dress bag on a random seat. They were all wearing joggers and tops for the bus ride, and they promptly collapsed on the seats.

When they picked up the rest of them from the manor, all of them did the same. They were all too knackered from the evening before and quickly everyone took their own double seats and went back to sleep.

Blaise and Theo had even thought to bring pillows, something Hermione was endlessly jealous of. She had to make do with her little jacket bunched up around her bag. Not ideal.

When Draco entered last, she felt her pulse speed up. He locked eyes with her immediately and her heart skipped a beat. He looked… happy?

What that man did to her. She scowled at him and he shuttered his expression as quickly as it had appeared.

Behind him, however, a bunch of the footmen from the manor followed carrying pillows and blankets. She was so tired and those pillows looked endlessly fluffy.

Hermione pulled the blanket tighter around her and tried very hard to ignore Draco, who had gone to sleep on the seats right in front of her with his long legs stretched out across the aisle.

Despite all of the drama, every single one of them ignored each other and tucked into their awkward seats with a sigh.

Blaise was even snoring before the driver had put the bus into gear.

Narcissa walked through the long corridors of the manor with purpose.

All of the youngsters had left for the day in various stages of utter exhaustion after the surprises of the night before.

And there was so much to sort through. Especially when it came to Draco.

But really, only one thing actually mattered and that was her newest family member, Harry James Potter, heir to the Earl of Sunderland.

It was baffling in its simplicity.

When she arrived at her office, her private secretary was blissfully unaware of the busy day ahead. No matter, she would know soon enough.

Narcissa walked in and started giving out her orders. They needed to contact the Earl as soon as possible, so she instructed her assistant to find his number immediately and she then went over their correspondence for the day with her secretary.

It really was quite handy to have two such competent employees. How on earth would she get everything done without them?

It took twenty minutes but by then she had the phone number in hand.

It rang twice.

"The residence of the Earl of Sunderland, the butler speaking." A pompous tone rang out from the other end. Her cheek lifted slightly, it must be a requirement for butlers to be able to use that grand tone.

She spoke clearly. "The Duchess of Dartmoor for the Earl please."

A slight pause and then, "I'm afraid that is not possible ma'am. The Earl is not to be disturbed."

"I have to insist. This is regarding his lineage."

There was a stunned silence on the other end as she waited. "I shall see if the Earl is available."

She was put on hold but no more than a minute later, another voice answered. It was a low hiss. "What is this?"

Narcissa however, took it all in stride and answered him as if he'd just paid her the highest of compliments. "A lovely day to you too sir." He grunted. Well, with that attitude she would spare him of further preliminaries. "I believe I have found your grandson."

Another grunt, this time perhaps a smidgen softer than before. "I have no grandson."

"I beg to differ." She said, utterly calm.

"Why would you raise my hopes like this? What does a duchess get out of tricking an old man?" He sneered.

"His name is Harry James Potter. Son of James Henry Potter and Lily Potter, née Evans. My aunt, the Princess Royal recognized our common ancestor Dorea Black in him."

"That old witch can still see?" He chuckled and Narcissa had to fight back a smile.

"He has seen the Black portrait of Dorea before, Henry. He has seen the portrait among his father's items in his office. They look alike. The boy is your kin." She paused. "It's even listed on the Internet."

Silence.

Then a heavy sigh.

And then, "I want to meet him."

She would have expected nothing less. "You are more than welcome to join us here at Dartmoor. He works with my son and lives on the grounds."

"Works? He works for a living?" He exploded.

Narcissa however, was used to blustering gentlemen. "Yes, by his own choice. He was raised by his godfather, the Marquess Sirius Black, my cousin. He has been offered all manners of estates and a title was even dangled before him, but he refused it all on his own merit."

"Why?" He sounded genuinely baffled.

"You'll have to ask this of him yourself. I personally don't understand the choice." She really didn't but he did seem quite happy with his life.

"I see. He sounds… Like James."

She smiled. "The Marquess informs me that he is the spitting image of your son."

"And where is he now?"

"On the way to Chestertons Polo in the Park. They will return tonight."

"Excellent, I shall arrive tomorrow at lunch." He said briskly. "Thank you for your call Duchess, I believe there might be some life left in this old man."

And before she could answer, he hung up. She smiled widely and called for the butler. "Hobson, will you please arrange the yellow rooms for the Earl of Sunderland? He will arrive tomorrow at mid-day."

He nodded once. "Very good ma'am."

She turned back to her mountain of correspondence with a smirk.

At least life at Dartmoor was anything but boring these days.

A/N: Please give me a review if you liked this update!

- And THANK YOU SO MUCH if you're still following my fic!

xx HBSJ